The Ghost Goes West

After vanishing for nearly two decades, "The Ghost Goes West" materializes again, this time on the Brattle's screen. Combining slapstick and fantasy, Robert Sherwood's imaginative screenplay portrays the adventures of an ocean-going phantom.

Robert Donat, in a dual role, plays both Murdoch Glourie, an eighteenth-century Scottish gigolo, and his twentieth-century descendant Donald, whose passions are somewhat more restrained. Although neither part demands exceptional acting, Donat manages to lighten his burr to achieve the transition from Murdoch to Donald. Jean Parker, However, looking like an English Claudette Colbert, is only a routine love-sick heroine. Although her attempted love affair with the ghost is a change from the ordinary, she has no opportunity to show any talent.

But Eugene Pallette successfully blusters through the role of Joe Martin, grocery-store magnate and the girl's father, interested only in the grossest of profit and spectacle. He transports gloomy Glourie Castle to sunny Florida, outfitting it with radios in suits of armor and Venetian gondolas "to give that European look" to the moat--the ultimate in unintentional incongruity. Pallette makes the most of the only part which requires genuine interpretation.

One of director Rene Clair's earlier films, "The Ghost Goes West" lacks the subtle flavor of his later productions. Instead, "The Ghost" throws its humor at you openly and loudly. All you need do is be there to catch it.